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LORD AND LADY BRASSEY.
PiitioONAL TEA ITS.
The Stratui for November last has a
profusely-illustrated article by M. Griffith
devoted to Lord and Lady Brassey, who
in view of their prospective residence in
Victoria hare now a very special interest
to Australians. The writer had an inter
view with Lady Brassey at her London
house. No. 24, Park-lane. " Her father
—she informed mo—died before succeed
ing to the title. So she never lived in
her beautiful ancestral home, CasBiobury
Park, Hertfordshire. Lady BraBsey was
married in 1890, and has one dear little
giil, the Hon. Helen de Wre Brassey.
In the course of conversation I learnt
that before her marriage she lived very
quietly, had travelled but little, that her
uneventful home life had developed a
great taste for reading, and that she was
an enthusiast about sculpture, a great
walk-r, ail accomplished horsewoman,
and very fond of painting.
"'After my marriage,' Lady Brassey
said, ' we went for a sis weeks' cruise in
the Sunbeam, visiting Spain and Italy,'
" In reply to my question if abe was a
good sailor she smiled and said, ' Not at
first, but now I am getting better, and
am beginning to enjoy it.'
" 'On January 1, 1893,' Lady Brassey
continued, ' we set sail for the West
Indies. We bad a large party of guests
on board, including ray relatives, tha
Duke and DuchesB of St. Albans, Lady
Dorothea Murray, Mr. SpencerLyttleton,
and Major Seymour Finch. In going
out we had very rough wea'hor ; we.
were away only about three months.' "
After a reference in detail to the luxu
rious appointments of the Sunbeam, the
writer adds : —" Lady Brassey has a
horror of publioity, end it was only by
occasional remarks that I w&b able to
learn a little more of her life outside
aooiety circles. For instance, that during
the pressure of the London season, with
all its attendant gaieties and consequent,
fatigue, the dinner parties, balk, and
fortn glitly musical reunions at whioh she
has to enact the hostess, she still finds
time and inclination for benefiting and
LORD BRASSEY. Help

LORD BRASSEY.

personally visiting the poor and suffering.

She has founded a convalescent home for
children at Boxhill, Sussex, and is a
frequent aud welcome visitor at the
Seamen's Hospital near the Victoria and
Albert Docks, with which Lord Brassey

is also associated.

" 'Is not that rather far for you to
go ?' I ABked.

44 4 Yes, but no one else will go on that
account,' replied Lady Brassey.

441 also learnt that she was on the com
mittee of the May fair Union for the
Rescue of Young Girls. My attention
was attracted by a beautiful Dachshund
named ' Gnifin' (Countess).

44 4 1 am very fond of dogs,' Lady
Brassey said, 4 and have always two or
three about mc; but this one is my

favourite.'"

A sketch is then given of Lady Bras
sey's artistic boudoir and beautiful
museum, and of Lord Brassoy'a career.
141 ventured to enquire the annual
amount of his donations and sub
scriptions, and loarnt that he con
siders it a duty to give at least
a tenth part of his yearly income in
chanty. But I afterwards gathered from
Mr. J. Pottor, who has been Lord
Brassey's Secretary for twenty years,
and was also a valued friend of the late
Lady Brassey, that this was far too low
an estimate, and that the whole amount
is always greatly in excess of this."

The reader is then taken from Park
lane to Normanhurst Court, near to
Battle, the illustration of which shows a
beautiful pilo of buildings commanding a
magnificent view of the adjacent country,
rendorcd historical by the Battle of
Hastings. The furniture is modern, but
every room is a perfect museum of rare
and beautiful objocts. A writion de
scription can never do justice to the
exquisite works of art with which every

room both at Park-lane aud Norman
hurst Court is enriched. Days and
weeks might ba profitably spent in
studying them. Normanliurst Court is a
lovely spot, and its lord and lady are as
notod for their lavish hospitality as they
are for their courteous kindness to all
with whom they come into contact. Lord
Brassey has three daughters married ;
and—strange coincidence—all to masters
of houndB, who resido within a ten miles
radius of Normanhurst.

An interview with Lord and Lady Brassey
—who are to succeed the Earl and Countess
of Hopetoun at Government House at Mel
bourne—appears in the strand Magazine. We
have given part of the article, and now make

extracts from the rest.

The Sunbeam, in whioh Lord Brassey
intends to proceed from London to the seat of
bis new Government, was in Caloutia for
about two months when Lord Brassey was
President of the Royal Commission on Opium.
They stayed over Christmas there, entertain
ing a great many friends. The deckhouse is
the most frequently occupied of all the cabins,
being used as a drawing-room. The walls are
of ohintz, covered with ohoioe wateroolour
drawings. The paint is white, relieved with
gold, and the mirrors are surrounded with
lattice-work, upon which ivy is twisted. The
inast, which is in one corner of the room, is
also twiBted with it. The table swings on
gimbals. In Lady Brassey's cabin the walls
are covered with chintz, and the httings, in
cluding bookshelves and wardrobes, are of
ebony, and many ohoice watnrcolonrs attorn
the walls. All the oahins on the Sunbeam are
beautifully fitted and arranged, and but for
the size one oould imagine oneself in a
splendidly furnished house.

Lord Brassey, whose portrait is given above,
is one of the Directors of the British North
Bprneo Company, of the Naval Construction
Armament Company, and the Powell Duffryn
Steam Coal Company. In 1SJ3 be was

appointed a Lord-in-Waiting. Notwithstand
ing multifarious and arduous offices Lord
Brassey takes a personal interest in philan
thrope work, such as Dr. Barnardo's Homes,
the British and foreign Sailors' Sooiety, of
both of which he is President, and is a large
subsoribor to the funds of the Missions to
Seamen, having quite reoeulljr given the
muniiioenb sum of £5,000 to assist the com
pletion of the Sailors' institute at Poplar.

Oae of the sights at Park-lane is "The
Lady Brassoy Museum." The ground floor
is entered through beautifully carved folding
doors made in Bombay, the pillars in front of
them being of Lahore workmanship. The
groater part of thiB lower room is what was
known as the Durbar Hall of the Colonial and
Indian Exhibition The woods used are beak,
pine, and shittim, and the greater part of
the oarving has been done by two natives
from the Punjab. It is lit eleotrically, and
from the oontre hangs a beautiful brass
lantern, suspended by eight brase ohains.
Another pair of folding-doors of tsak of ex
quisite design lead into tho street. An alcove,
cushioned with rich embroidery work, pur
chased in Cairo, and originally intended
for Sultan Abdul Aziz, ocoupies one side of
this room. The panelled walls are oovered
with fine specimens of eastern arms, elephant
goads, Bornean brase chain armour, and tusks.
At the top of tho stairoase leading to the
second room are cases of tropical birds, a
collection of boats, models of boats, and a
child's toy boat picked up by the Sunbeam
many hundreds of miles from land.

Equally rich in carved work is the seoond
room; the pillars and screens are works of
art. Hound the walls are glass oases, in which
theeleotrio light is shaded by pearl mussol
sholls from the Bay of Naples. Each oase is
tilled with curios that would make a ooUector
tear his hair with envy. Every article has its
history, but apaoe, and a stern editor will only
permit mo to enumerate a few of the most re
markable among these treasures. One case
contains reminiscences of voyages and
personal souvenirs of the late Lady Braesey.
Among other things — a look of Queen
Honiara's hair; a wooden drinking bowl,
presented to Mr. Gladstone by the farmers
in Norway while on a crui90 in the Sun
beam in 1SS7. Iu another oase specimens

from minus, ana a number cif interesting
objeobs recovered in 1388 from the Dutch ship
Jail Thomas, wrecked in Table Bay at the
olose or the last century. Then there are all
kinds of Indian jewellery and bro9e and silver
smith's work. Pottery and poroolain from
various countries, ourios from Now Guinea,
South Sea Islands, and other uncivilized
countries; natural treasures from the bottcm
of the sea, and a very interesting and valuable
oolloction of antiquities excavated for the late
Lady Brassey in Oyprus of " peonlos extend
ing from the Phmnioian and Greek to the
Rotnan time,"consisting of lamps, bowls, and
gold ornaments; the foob of a mummy picked
up by Lady Brassey, funeral orowns of gold
leaves, spiral glass hairpins, and paintings oil

glass.

The county seat of Lord and Lady Brassey
is Normanhurst Court, near to Battle, whioh
was built for Lord Brassey by bis father in
1S36, from design by Mr. Haberabon, of the
firm of Habershon & Brook. The style is
what is called " Francois Premier," and the
material ICentish ragstone. It commands a
inagnifioent view of the adjacent country,
rendered historical by the battle of Hastings.
Normanhurst is some six miles from the Bea as
the crow flies, and the whole estate oovers,
roughly speaking, about S.OOO acres. As we
ascend the flight of steps leading to the door
we are reminded that from these steps the
lata M. VVaddington delivered his Arab
public speech in England, on the oooasion of
she visit of a party of working men to
Normanhurst, w'ooro he happeued to ba on a

visit.

The central hall is very grand and pic
turesque. It is surrounded by flue oak gal
leries with iron balustrades. Here hangs a
magnificent tapestry worked in doss silk
from designs by theaelebrated Italian painter,
Porino del 'Vaga. It once oovered a throne
in the Ducal Palace at Palermo, A beautiful
cabinet of laoquered wood is decorated with
ornaments in relief of ivory and mother-of
pearl, while the interior has avpb.qu* work in
silver filigree, and is encrusted with turquoise
and other gems. The high-baoked ebony
chairs in tho anteroom are from the Contariui
Palace, in Venice ; hero are also several fine
specimens of modern and antique ohiua,

frames of rare coins, and piotureB, one en
titled "liable Butteroups," by G. A. Storey,
being a portrait of JLiord Brassey's little
daughter, who died when only six years old.

Many of the treasures, of bistorio value and
interest, are gathered into what is known aa
the Pompeiian-room, whioh has a painted
oeilihg, by Oendron, the siibjeot being " For
tuna!" On one side of the room is a very
handsome bookcase and cabinet oombined,
whioh was exhibited at the Paris Exhibition
of 1867, and it was this pieoe of furniture that
suggested the particular style of decoration of
the room.

Among the thousand and one ourios of
whioh the room is full it is difficult to select
the most wonderful. Several beautiful lacquer
boxes ornamented with beaten gold were
formerly the property, and Dear the oreet, of
the "Tyooon," the supreme ruler of JapaD,
now termed Mikado. A handsoreon of arrow
root fibre wae presented to the late Lady
Qrassey by the Dowager Queen of Huahine.
A ghastly necklace is oomposed of braids of
human hair out from the heads of enemies
killed in battle by King Kamehamoha of
Honolulu. Fishhooks of mother-of-pearl sre
from the South idea Islands ; they require no
bait, their glittering beauty serving to attract
the fish.

Very interesting is a cabinet containing
| forty-eight reduoed reproductions in plaster
| of the Elgin marbles, being the roEult of
[ twelve years' diligent labour of John Hen

nmg, who was the son of a carpenter at
Paisley, and one of the founders of tho
Society of British A rtiats. The plateaux of
dragon china are extremely raro. It was
j forbidden to export this ohiaa, eo these two
I specimens were smuggled away on board ship

under cover of the sailors' beef by the late
Lady Brassey's greatgrandfather, who com
manded a man-of-war in the last oentury, one
of tho first British men-of-war tbat ever
eutorod a Chinese port. A teapot of white
earthenware, painted wish flowers, bears the
following inscription" The eldor Brewster
teapot. Tho original was brought to America
in ye May Flower A.D. 1G20, and lias been
exactly copied and reproduaod by Riohaid
Briggs Boston from ye Aransas oollesiionof
Gov. Lyon, 1871." Very fine are the en
gravings of portraits in the room.

Tho drawing-room oeihng is painted by
Barras, and represents "The Apotheosis of
Alexander." The portieres are of plum
ooloured velvet with ooloured Bilk hand em
broidery. Four of the panels on the walls
are corerod with hangings of white silk,
riohly worked, the priucipal design being a
peaoook of gorgeous plumage. These hang
ings were made for the beautiful and unfor
tunate Marie Antoinette, and were hidden
away during the Revolution, and wero only
disooverod during the Commune of 1871. A
Venetian mirror, bordered with flowers of
orystal, is one of a pair made for Louis XIV.,
and presented to him by Madarno do Main
tenon. The oompanion one was at the
Palace of St. Cloud, and was shattered by one
of the first shells tired from Paris during the
Franoo-Pruseian war. Hero may bo Been a
pair of vases painted by Quean Charlotte
Matilda of England, who married Frederie

King of Wurtemburg. The ckioa-room I dare.
not begin to deaoribu, muoh as I would like to.
I will only mention one thing—a dejeuner
set, in a case. The tray or plateau has in the
oentre the imitation of the original sardonyx
oamoo representing "The Apotheosis of
Alexander." This was the property of the
PrinoesH Charlotte of Wales, daughter of
George IV., and was purchased at the sale in

1818.

In the dining-room bangs an excellent por
trait of Lord Brassey, by the late Frank Holl,
presented by bis constituents and friends at
Hastings and neighbourhood. There is also
a full-length portrait of the late Lady
Brassey, by Sir Francis Grant, painted about
thirty years ago; and a remarkable pioturo of
" Dinant on the Meu3e,"by Robert Browning,
eon of the great poet. The Brassey presenta
tion shield is worthy of speoial mention. It
was exhibited at the Great Exhibition of
1857, and is of silvar-gUt, 3G in. in diameter,
and weighing 500 oz. On it are portraits in
ivory of the engineers under whom the lata
Mr. Brassey exeouted railway works, and
enamel paintings of the twelve greatest engi
neering works carried out by him.

Tho shield bears the following inscription:
—"Presented to Thomas Brassey, Esq., with
portraits ol Mrs. Brassey and himself,

express the gratitude, respect, and good
wishes of bis agents, eub-oontractors, and
workmen, aud to perpetuate tho association
of his name with some of the greatest works
and roost eminent engineers of his o.iuntry,
April 2, 1857.J' la tho late Lady Brassev's
room are a washstand and console table that
were a part of the furniture in Napoleon I. 's

bedroom at St. Helena.

The boudoir is octagonal in shape, with
dome oeiliug doooratod like those of the
Alhambra. Here are several fine tankards
and cups won by Mrs Brassey's horses aud
dogs. A ribbon of white Bilk was sent to the
late Lady Brassey by the Orown Princess of
Prussia when her eldest daughter, Princess
Charlotteof Meiningen, was married. Another
valuable gift is a gold-and-piak enamel locket,
set with pearls aud diamonds, presented bv
Chulaboukoum Parauca Rajadhiraja, King of
Siara, and containing his portrait. His
Majesty visited Nornianhurst in ISO!). A
beautiful gold cable bracelet, woiehing thirty
sovereigns, is a gift from the Maharajah of
.Tohore. A native woman's dress of white
linen oame from Queen Kaiulani, of th > Sand

wich Islands.

Very beautiful and rate is the royal feather
oloak. When the King of the Sandwioh
Islands visited Novmanbursb in 1881 ho
greatly admired it, and said that he was then
trying to oolloot aulTioinnt feathers to make a
now royal robe for Queen Kapiolani, and
offering a dollar for every single feather. So
the monetary value of this oloak oan be
imagined. The fnathors of whiah it is com
posed are scarlet and yellow, arranged in
diamond-shaped pattern. An exquisite piooe
of gold brooade was presented by Take-hito,
nephew and heir-apparent of the Mikado of
Japan. A mother-of-pearl ivy-leaf candle
stick, mounted in silver, was one that was
placed at the foot of Marie Antoinette's
ooffin, having baen previously given by her to
one of her lsdies-'n-waiting.

The late Ladv hrassey aoquired a large
collection of gold ornamentB from tho graves
of some aboriginal rsoes of the n irth-western
provinoe of South Amerioa. They inolude not
only personal and religious ornamonts, but
also rare implements, and show bow
thorongly the goldsmith's art was under
stood and praotised by the Indians. Some of
these graves contained ornamonts worth from
£4,000 to £13,000.

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